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Roustabout: The Great Circus Train Wreck! opened November 7 and will run through November 15.
North Park Theatre Company season focuses on the relationship between alumni and current students
CHICAGO (November 12, 2014) — When the Chicago theater company Neo-Futurists premiered Roustabout: The Great Circus Train Wreck! in the fall of 2006, Joseph Schupbach was among the attendees. , who had graduated earlier that year from 萝莉社 having studied , was deeply moved by the play. “There’s something kind of idealistic about the show, but also tragic, and also hopeful,” says Schupbach. “So it matches really well with artists who are coming into adulthood.” Eight years later, things came full circle when Schupbach returned to North Park to direct the University’s fall production of Roustabout.
The play, about the real-life Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus train accident of 1918 that killed dozens of performers and circus workers, explores war and art, the actor and the play, and the power of entertainment. It opened last weekend at North Park and . Also in the audience for Roustabout’s 2006 premiere was Professor of Communication Arts , who responded to the show’s “ensemble-driven story and physical theater aesthetic”—two attributes that he was eager to bring to the University this fall. “We thought Roustabout would have the perfect energy for the ,” he says.
Heading into the 2014–2015 season, Bergman knew that he wanted to collaborate with the , a Chicago theater company of which University production manager and adjunct communication arts instructor Maggie Fullilove-Nugent is a member, along with Roustabout playwright Jay Torrence. Once Roustabout was decided on as the fall play, Fullilove-Nugent suggested Schupbach as the director. In 2013, Schupbach had worked with Fullilove-Nugent as assistant director on Burning Bluebeard, also written by Torrence, for the Ruffians.
“I had a fluency with the show and a close relationship with it,” says Schupbach, who had also seen two other productions of Roustabout. “They knew I was familiar with the kind of work that it is, I had assistant-directed with the , and I knew North Park,” he says. Schupbach especially appreciates directing students who are roughly the same age he was when he attended the premiere. “I saw it when I was 22, just after I had graduated, and I think it’s a really cool show for young people to do.”
Undoubtedly, Schupbach provides students with an exemplary trajectory for a career path after graduation. While at the University, he was placed in an internship with , an ensemble of actor-educators who lead creative writing workshops with Chicago public school students, then turn their stories into professionally performed shows. A longtime ensemble member, Schupbach became the company’s education coordinator in 2011. Earlier this month, he was promoted to artistic director.
“Most people don’t necessarily intern somewhere and then get a job where they’re in charge about seven years later,” Schupbach says about his experience at Barrel of Monkeys. “But until then, I didn’t quite know that there are jobs in the arts that are different from the ones you maybe heard about when you were younger.” In his new position, Schupbach spends half of his time in the office and half of his time in the rehearsal room. “For an artistic director at another organization, it probably looks different, but I’ll direct approximately eight shows a year, and I’m also working with a group of 60 company members,” he says. “It’s a dream situation as far as utilizing my degree.”
Before serving on staff at Barrel of Monkeys, Schupbach spent five years working with two different theater companies and an elementary school. “I didn’t know that was a job until I was learning how to do it,” he says. He challenges current North Park students to ask themselves now what kind of places they want to work for. “These students are leaving the program with incredible skill sets,” he says. Schupbach points out that cast member Annamarie Giordano is “a singer and a classic actor, but she’s also the assistant technical director, and she’s building things and getting to tell other people what to do. And I say, ‘Yup, you’re going to get a job. And you’re only a junior.’”
Alumnus Joseph Schupbach, who was recently named artistic director of Barrel of Monkeys, returned to North Park to direct Roustabout.
Bringing the season to life
Staging Roustabout at North Park presented the Theatre Company with some compelling challenges. Rather than seeking to replicate the Neo-Futurists’ space, the crew and cast strove to translate the theater’s energy to the University. One of the decisions made was to place the audience on stage with the cast. “That’s something we did duplicate: the intimacy with the actors, and in some ways, the simplicity of what is physically on stage.”
To give North Park students a vocabulary in the Neo-Futurists’ and Ruffians’ narrative style and sensibility, members from both companies were brought in to lead workshops on, among other areas, physical theater and clowning. “I was excited coming back here and about having students experiment with what was in some ways a different kind of storytelling for them,” says Schupbach.
The theme of theatre alumni returning to create productions is one that runs throughout this season. Krista Mickelson, who graduated last May and already works as a production manager throughout the Chicago theater scene, earlier this fall helmed Project 24, in which students write, stage, and present a series of original short plays over the course of 24 hours. In addition, the University will bring back alumni Chaz Evans and Joe Giovannetti in the spring to mount a sequel to North Park Theatre Company’s most successful production to date, Kung Fu Suburbia.
As they did for the original production, Evans, a 2006 graduate, and Giovannetti, a 2007 graduate, will co-write Kung Fu Suburbia 2: Cul-de-Sacrifice with Bergman. “In the writing of the original Kung Fu Suburbia, we looked carefully at how Shakespeare structured a play and used music, language, fights, and story to keep everyone engaged,” says Bergman. After working on The Duchess of Malfi with the Theatre Company two seasons ago, Bergman was inspired to think about working on a sequel.
Evans and Giovannetti were more than willing to accept the challenge. “I texted Chaz and Joe, and within seven seconds, both wrote me back saying, ‘I’m in!’” Bergman hears from alumni like Evans, an assistant professor of art and history at DePauw University, Giovannetti, who works as a professional freelance theater artist, and Schupbach, that their theatre and performance studies training has equipped them for a wide array of work in the arts.
Chicago theater professionals regularly report that North Park graduates “can do everything,” Bergman says. “As a result of modeling our program with the best of storefront theater, our students are cross-trained in many of the departments that put together a show. When you are blessed with a program that makes magic with limited resources, you think creatively to solve problems in real ways.”
Schupbach also found that there is another important attribute the program endows its students with: “North Park teaches you how to be nice,” he says. “The thing that nobody really tells you but you just figure out yourself is that people remember kind people who do their job well. If you can get those two things, you will do very well.”
Honoring tragedy through humor
Performances of Roustabout: The Great Circus Train Wreck! will be held November 13–15 at 7:30 pm in Lecture Hall Auditorium. .
When Roustabout premiered in 2006, the wars in the Middle East were front and center for many Americans, and partially helped to inform the play’s content. In 2014, he finds that the show may serve a different purpose. “It’s very playful, but it’s also about war. We’re in a climate now where many people can forget that there’s foreign fighting.” Today, the play partly serves as a reminder not to forget about war, says Schupbach.
“The show is political without being sectarian or party-based,” Schupbach says. “But it is intense.” In the middle of the play, the characters discuss the merit of making fun of tragic circumstances. Schupbach finds that this section makes the weightier aspects of the play more digestible. “It comes at a really good place in the show.”
Sitting through the technical rehearsal, Schupbach still found himself moved by the play. “I think it’s really interesting for the students,” Schupbach says. “They’re discovering how you remember tragedy and honor it, how you can joke about something that’s not funny at all, and how that actually takes power away from horrific things.”
This year's Common Read, Short Girls by Bich Minh Nguyen, received the American Book Award and was named one of the Library Journal’s best books of the year in 2009.
Bich Minh Nguyen, author of Short Girls, visited North Park as part of this year’s Campus Theme
CHICAGO (November 11, 2014) — In early August, 萝莉社’s incoming freshmen received a package in the mail. It was a book, Short Girls by Bich Minh Nguyen. The book included a letter that described North Park’s Common Read initiative, and its connection to this year’s Campus Theme, ""
“The first question a lot of students asked after they received the book in the mail is if they were going to be tested on it,” said , professor of and coordinator of the Common Read. “The answer is no. This is about the pleasure of reading, and realizing you are going to be part of a larger conversation and a larger pursuit of learning.”
The Common Read, similar to initiatives like , is in its second year as part of the . The idea is that incoming freshmen have a shared experience of reading the same book, which is selected based on the Campus Theme, and then gather throughout the year to discuss its meanings and implications.
Short Girls was chosen as this year’s book for a number of reasons, including the exploration of second-generation immigrants, gender issues, and often-overlooked difficulties in modern society—in this case, being short. In addition, food plays a prominent role in the book, from its place within the traditional Vietnamese home, to the workplace of one of the main characters, Linny. Similar to last year’s book, The Book of My Lives by Aleksandar Hemon, Short Girls also offers a cultural commentary of Chicago, the city where Linny lives.
“There are a number of tensions and dynamics at work in the book that tie into what students experience in their lives in and outside of North Park,” said Craft. “Reading is in some ways an individual thing, but when you come together and process your thoughts on a book—ask the 'why' questions—then it can be a way to create community.”
Last Thursday, students had an opportunity to explore the book even further as its author visited campus for a lecture in Anderson Hall. Besides the award-winning novel Short Girls, Nguyen is also the author of the memoir Stealing Buddha's Dinner, a PEN/Jerard Award-winner and a Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year.
“It’s fascinating to meet the author of what you just read,” said Craft. “These students came to North Park with a number of comments and questions on the book and we facilitated discussions. But it’s a whole different experience to ask the author directly.”
Campus Theme events will continue throughout the year. The schedule includes a film week in January; a February address from Kim Stein, a scientist at the ; and a March lecture from Dr. Norman Wirzba, professor at Duke University and author of .
“Traditionally, the Campus Theme has been about a value or idea, for example, ‘What Is Community?’ ‘What Is Justice?’ ‘What Is Peace?’" said , associate professor of and the director of the Campus Theme program. “This year we wanted to address something more tangible. Eating is a daily human experience that all of us share. It is the most provocative of questions because first, it is so fundamental to human life, and second, because it bears directly on other values that we care about here at North Park—justice, compassion, community, theology, and cultural diversity.”
John Swinton Discusses Caring for People With Mental Illness Ahead of Symposium
Dr. John Swinton, professor in practical theology and pastoral care at the School of Divinity, Religious Studies, and Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, spent years as a nurse and chaplain before transitioning to the academic community.
Keynote, plenary address, and two workshops to be live-streamed this Saturday, November 8.
CHICAGO (November 6, 2014) — This Saturday, 萝莉社 will welcome ministers, lay leaders, and healthcare professionals to campus for a symposium on faith and mental health titled “.” The sold-out conference is a collaboration between , the , and the . Attendees will explore the question of how healthcare professionals and congregations can respond faithfully to the challenge of mental illness, considering what can be done together that neither can do alone.
Selected sessions from the event will be streamed live, free of charge, at , including the keynote and plenary addresses from :
8:50 am — "" (John Swinton)
10:45 am — "" (Pablo Anabalon)
1:30 pm — "" (David Hawkinson)
3:15 pm — "" (John Swinton)
Dr. John Swinton is a professor in practical theology and pastoral care at the School of Divinity, Religious Studies, and Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. He has a background in mental health nursing and healthcare chaplaincy and also serves as an honorary professor and researcher at Aberdeen’s Centre for Advanced Studies in Nursing. Dr. Swinton has researched and published extensively within the areas of practical theology, mental health, spirituality, and human well-being, and the theology of disability.
Before traveling to North Park for the symposium, Dr. Swinton answered a series of questions about caring for people with mental illness and the potential for the church to respond to the challenge.
North Park: In your work, you talk about the importance of person-centered care. What is person-centered care and how is it different from other methods?
John Swinton: Person-centered care isn't really a method. It's just a way of being with people. Within healthcare systems we can become quite task-oriented and instrumental in our practices. The idea of person-centered care is simply a way of drawing our attention back to the centrality of the person and the role that they have in the process of care. Any tasks that we engage in are for the benefit of the person and not for the efficiency of the system. So to be person-centered is simply to focus on the person before you at all times and not to allow your presuppositions or the pressures of your immediate tasks to determine priorities. Of course there is a deeper dimension to person-centeredness. Within mental health for example, people very easily become their diagnoses. There is a huge difference between “a person living with schizophrenia” and "a schizophrenic." One assumes that the person is central and the illness is something that the person encounters as a person, while the other assumes that the person is the illness. When people become illnesses all sorts of unpleasant things can happen. You don't listen to or respect illnesses, but you do persons.
North Park: You mentioned drawing attention back to the centrality of the person. Is this something an individual can do, or is it possible for an organization (or even society) to move in that direction?
John Swinton: I think it is both. Most healthcare systems—and actually most forms of organizational management—have a tendency to focus on economics and efficiency. There is of course nothing in and of itself wrong with that. However, the problem is that if structural things take priority over the personal things, persons can quickly become commodities. When that happens, care can easily be conceived of as a set of tasks designed for purposes that may include, but are certainly not defined by, the needs of individual persons. People can easily get left behind in our striving for efficiency and economic goals. So I think it has to do with individuals keeping persons as central to their focus, but also looking at ways in which systems can be reoriented from an emphasis on forms of efficiency, but forget about persons.
North Park: You spent a number of years in the field as a nurse and chaplain. How did those experiences shape your academic work?
John Swinton: The way I frame my life is that my nursing and chaplaincy were my place of formation and my theological work is my place of vocation. I was formed in a quite particular way by spending most of my working life with people who experience mental or physical disabilities. Spending one's life with those who are clearly marginalized and rejected forms one's life, one's body, and one's view of the world in quite particular ways. My theological work is the place where I have been able to take that formation and work out what it means within my calling as a Christian.
North Park: It seems like a basic question, but what is the connection between spirituality and mental health?
John Swinton: Well, that depends on what you mean by the question. There is some research that seems to indicate a correlation between spirituality and mental health. For example, involvement in religious communities has been noted as protective for some forms of depression. But much depends on what you mean by "mental health." The bible doesn't have a word for health in the biomedical sense that we use it today, which is the absence of illness. The closest we find is the word shalom, which means to be in right relationship with God, or righteousness or holiness. That being so, mental health defined biblically has not to do with the absence of illness, but rather the presence of God. So you can be deeply psychotic and very healthy, and you can be physically and psychologically well and deeply unhealthy! So the key is in the meaning of the questions.
North Park: As an ordained minister, you describe a strong commitment to supporting the work of the church. Why do you think the church is specifically positioned to respond to issues of mental illness?
John Swinton: At one level the church is well positioned to contribute to mental healthcare. However, in reality, the church forms part of a culture that is highly stigmatizing towards mental health issues. As such it often contains exclusionary attitudes. This is not always deliberate, but it is an aspect of church life. So while I see the church as a valuable asset, its practice often falls short of its ideals. However, I think a primary task of the church is to create spaces of belonging within which all people can discover God and encounter Christlike friendships. If the church cannot do that, in what sense can it really be the church? In a culture that is highly stigmatizing and often rejects people who are different, there is a tremendous need for exemplar communities that can show a different way of being in the world. I think the gospel has the potential to facilitate precisely such communities. So I remain hopeful and indeed excited at the prospects.
North Park: One of the workshops you are leading at the symposium, “Giving People Back Their Names,” focuses on dementia. What made you interested in that particular disability?
John Swinton: As a nurse and chaplain, I was always struck by the ways in which the experience of dementia seemed to frighten even hardened health professionals. It seems that people think that somehow we are our memories. But of course that is not the case. Most of our memories are actually held by our communities and ultimately by God. When we forget things, others remember for us. So I guess that my interest came from wrestling with the question of identity and memory in a theory and in practice.
For more information about John Swinton, additional speakers, and the full symposium schedule, please visit the .
Hall of Fame Ceremony Marks Homecoming Week for North Park Athletics
William Anderson C'68 led North Park's football team from 1978–1985, part of a 42-year coaching career.
Women and men's soccer, volleyball, and football all compete at home this week
CHICAGO (October 22, 2014) — On Friday night in the Johnson Center, Vikings fans will have an opportunity to cheer for six of the University’s legends, this time off the field, at the induction ceremony of the 2014 Viking Hall of Fame class. A tradition that began in 1988, former student-athletes and coaches are voted into the Viking Hall of Fame each year based on playing ability, character, and the contributions made to the team and 萝莉社. This year's inductees include William Anderson, Shari Hayden, Dr. John Hjelm, Brady Josephson, Annika Safstrom, and Adam Sinovic.
Bill Anderson C’69 played football for four years at North Park in the mid-'60s. He later served as the head football coach from 1978–1985, and also chaired the physical education department. Anderson’s coaching tenure at North Park was part of a 42-year coaching career that spanned over two high schools and three colleges.
As one of the most outstanding track and field athletes North Park has ever produced, Shari Hayden C’00 was named the 2000 Female Athlete of the Year. She is the school record-holder in multiple events, including the outdoor 100-meter hurdles, and the 400- and 1600-meter relays.
Dr. John Hjelm C’75 has served North Park for 34 years as a teacher, mentor, and coach, including as the head swimming coach, tennis coach, and the interim athletic director. He has been the cross-country skiing sponsor of the school for the past 17 years. As an undergraduate, Hjelm was an All-CCIW swimmer.
Recognized as Sportsperson of the Year his senior year, Brady Josephson C’07 G'08 served as a three-year captain for the baseball team, in addition to being a four-year Academic All-CCIW selection. A native of Canada, Josephson is the school record-holder in 10 different categories and was active as a student ambassador and a member of the Chapel Team. He went on to earn a MNA from the University, and is an adjunct faculty member for the .
Annika Safstrom C’07 is regarded as one of the pioneers of the North Park women's rowing program, laying the . A three-time Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association Scholar Athlete and three-time All-Mid-Atlantic Athlete, Safstrom was also a Female Athlete of the Year finalist and a three-time Dad Vail Regatta medalist.
Adam Sinovic C’06, a three-time All-CCIW selection for soccer, is heralded as one of North Park's best all-around student-athletes. A two-time team captain and later an assistant coach for the program, he was a three-time CCIW champion, and earned National Soccer Coaches Association of America All-Central Region honors in 2006.
Four Chances to Cheer the Vikings
The Hall of Fame induction ceremony is just one of the exciting athletic events on the Homecoming schedule. , Head Coach John Born and the conference-leading men's soccer team, currently 11-3 overall and 3-0 in conference play, will face Carthage College Wednesday night at 7:30 pm at the Holmgren Athletic Complex.
"It's the student-athletes who decide the games, and I've been fortunate that I've had talented and just all-around good kids," said Born. "This is a testament to what they've been able to do over the years."
The 6-8 women’s soccer team will open play against Carthage at 5:30 pm on Wednesday as they look to break their three-game losing streak. Earlier this fall, the team celebrated its 20th anniversary with a . Both the men's and women’s teams have four conference games remaining before the CCIW tournament begins November 5.
There will be two opportunities to watch the on Friday as they take on Augustana College and St. Mary’s of Indiana at 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm in Helwig Recreation Center. The team hopes to build positive momentum and improve on its 8-18 record as they head towards the conference tournament on November 7.
On Saturday, North Park’s football team looks to kick-start its season and as they take on Millikin at 1:00 pm at the Holmgren Athletic Complex. North Park is winless so far this season, but did .
“We’ve got to put some things together and hit on all cylinders,” said Head Coach Mike Conway. “We’re building character in these young people’s lives, and that’s what it is all about. We just got to keep working and fighting and believing in each other.”
Visit to view the full schedule of events this week, including details on class reunions, the River Run 5k, and worship opportunities.
WBEZ's Monica Eng to Help North Park Explore 'What Is Food?'
Food reporter Monica Eng, whose parents and oldest brother are North Park alumni, has been writing on food since the late 1980s. She currently hosts the Chewing the Fat podcast on WBEZ, after spending time at the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune.
Additional lectures and events will continue Campus Theme discussion throughout the year
CHICAGO (October 28, 2014) — Each year, the 萝莉社 community comes together for a series of events, lectures, and discussions around a central question of the human experience. A tradition for more than a decade, this question is known as the . This year’s question, “What Is Food?” marks a different approach from year’s past.
“Traditionally, the Campus Theme has been about a value or idea, for example, ‘What Is Community?’ ‘What Is Justice?’ ‘What Is Peace?’" said , associate professor of and the director of the Campus Theme program. “This year we wanted to address something more tangible. Eating is a daily human experience that all of us share. It is the most provocative of questions because first, it is so fundamental to human life, and second, because it bears directly on other values that we care about here at North Park—justice, compassion, community, theology, and cultural diversity.”
Food is intimately linked with politics, health, ethics, economics, and the environment. It is present during many faith practices, including communion in the Christian tradition. Many questions students engage in at North Park—including those of identity, race, and gender—can all be approached through the lens of food. “Add to these the contemporary questions of genetically modified foods, environmental sustainability, and animal rights, among others, and you have all the makings for a great conversation,” added Clifton-Soderstrom.
One of the first Campus Theme events for the year will take place this Friday at 10:30 am in Anderson Chapel. Monica Eng, a reporter and producer at , and former food reporter at the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, will share her insight into some of the thorniest food issues, and discuss what she's learned through reporting on food since the late 1980s.
“My family was always a food family,” said Eng, whose stepfather was a chef and grandfather and great grandfather owned restaurants in Chicago. She began her career writing about the more enjoyable elements of food, including restaurants, recipes, and trends. She continues to address that side of food, but also investigates the ignored elements, including the role of food in public health.
“Obviously it’s much more enjoyable to write and read about food as delicious,” Eng added. “It gives you something fun to do at lunch or after work. But food as dangerous, or food as exploitative of people around the world, is also important. It’s something you need to balance.”
What's more, Eng’s visit to North Park is in some ways a homecoming. She grew up in the North Park neighborhood, was born at nearby Swedish Covenant Hospital, and both of her parents and her brother are alumni. She attended local Peterson Elementary (with Dr. Clifton-Soderstrom) and participated in a number of activities at North Park Covenant Church as a child.
“It’s an honor to speak at North Park,” said Eng. “It will always be the university down on Foster Avenue where all the big kids went to school and where my friends’ parents taught. It will be strange speaking there as a grown-up.”
Many voices
The next major event on the Campus Theme schedule will be a lecture on Thursday, November 6, from , author of the award-winning Short Girls and Stealing Buddha’s Dinner. Nguyen will discuss the topic of cultural identity and cuisine in America.
Other highlights include an event in February featuring Kim Stein, a scientist at the , and a March address from Dr. Norman Wirzba, professor at Duke University and author of .
“The Campus Theme program was begun years ago to offer a set of shared experiences and campus wide classrooms where we might learn from local, national, and global experts on such questions,” Clifton-Soderstrom said. “The diverse set of voices not only benefits the University, but also invites the surrounding community to think with us.”
Campus Theme events are free and open to the public. For more information, please visit .
North Park Alum Shares His Path to Success with the Chicago Bears
McCaskey began working for the Bears as a ball boy in 1974, and graduated from North Park with a degree in athletic training in 1982.
Brian McCaskey, senior director of business development for the Bears, encouraged students to pursue their dream careers in a lecture on Monday.
CHICAGO (October 16, 2014) — On the wall at Halas Hall, the training facility in Lake Forest, Ill., there is a quote from American lawyer and author Albert Pike that reads: “What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal.”
That message, installed by Bears head coach Marc Trestman, was central to North Park alum Brian McCaskey’s lecture on Monday in the Johnson Center. McCaskey, senior director of business development for the Chicago Bears Football Club, spoke to a packed hall of undergraduate students, faculty, and staff about his nearly forty years with the Bears, particularly his experiences connecting with different groups of people. He discussed the importance of having a vision for your career, and the steps everyone must take to pursue their dreams. “It’s only work if you’d rather be somewhere else,” McCaskey urged the audience.
McCaskey also recalled the impact it had on his career when someone once asked him, “What can I do for you?” rather than just what McCaskey could do for them. For McCaskey, the mindset of helping others is not just a good thing to do—it is also an essential component of success.
“Brian has worked in the NFL at many different levels,” said , assistant professor of and head men’s soccer coach. “His insight and willingness to share his experiences within the world of professional sports is extremely valuable to our students.”
McCaskey began his career as a ball boy with the Bears in 1974, later transitioning into athletic training with the team. He credits North Park, and one of , with helping guide him on the path toward athletic training. McCaskey later served in other roles for the Bears, including director of player and staff development, where he focused on financial education, degree completion, and family assistance for players. He has held his current role as senior director of business development since 2001 and is a member of the Bears Board of Directors.
“Brian McCaskey is without a doubt passionate about his work,” said North Park junior Jessie Mortillaro. “After hearing him speak, the message I took away was that when you put the time and effort into what you want, the results will speak for themselves.”
McCaskey has been involved from the beginning in the development of the sports management concentration within the at North Park, which launched in Fall 2013. “I love sharing my experience, especially if it can help other students on their journey, whether it’s in sports management, athletic training, or anything else,” said McCaskey. “I enjoy my relationship with North Park and this is a way to be involved and to give back.”
Danish Gymnastics Team Performs for Hibbard Elementary School
Gymnasts from the Academy of Physical Education in Viborg, Denmark began their month-long U.S. tour with a performance for Hibbard Elementary in North Park's gymnasium.
Opportunity for local students to learn about Danish culture and experience a college atmosphere
CHICAGO (October 15, 2014) — On Friday afternoon, 萝莉社’s gymnasium was filled with dozens of Danish gymnasts flipping and twirling through the air, as nearly 1,200 students from nearby watched the team from the Academy of Physical Education in Viborg, Denmark, begin their U.S. tour.
Many of the students responded with "oohs" and "ahs" as the gymnastics team presented the Danish color guard; performed choreographed, acrobatic routines; and executed stunts with trampolines. This is the third time the Danish team has performed for Hibbard Elementary at North Park, including visits in 2007 and 2010.
“A big focus for Hibbard is to celebrate our cultural diversity,” said Principal Scott Ahlman, whose school is located just a block from North Park and shares one of the most diverse zip codes in the country. “Our children had the opportunity to not only watch but, more important, interact with our Danish friends. The gymnasts took time to meet our children and take pictures, which spreads goodwill. Interacting with and befriending people from a different culture is the best way to break down cultural barriers and stereotypes.”
The event is also an opportunity for students from the school to gain exposure to a University atmosphere. The students walked from Hibbard to the University, catching a glimpse of the environment on a college campus. After the performance, they wrote thank you notes with pictures to the gymnasts, many of them describing their new dreams of becoming future gymnasts and North Park students.
“We’ve kind of adopted Hibbard as our school over the years, with Danish opera performances, the YOURS youth orchestra program, volunteer reading programs with our faculty and staff, and the gymnastics performances,” said , dean of the college. “Studies have shown that elementary-aged students, especially from lower-education backgrounds, sometimes lack a vision of going off to college and struggle in their transition to high school. We want these kids to have experiences of different kinds from an early age so they gain visions of what they can be when they grow up and why they need to work hard while they are in school.”
The Danish gymnasts will continue their month-long U.S. tour, which includes stops in Iowa and Kentucky. The purpose of this tour is to promote a lifestyle of physical fitness, which the team says is fundamental to the culture of their country.
Bobby Broom to Present Master Class January 15 at 萝莉社
Broom’s latest album, My Shining Hour, a collection of musical Americana, is currently number three on the JazzWeek charts.
Jazz guitarist to reflect on the cultural phenomenon of jazz
Editor's note: The Bobby Broom Trio's master class will take place Thursday, January 15, 2015, at 2:30 pm in 萝莉社's Anderson Chapel. This event was originally scheduled for October 16.
CHICAGO (October 9, 2014) — When the audience sits down for jazz guitarist master class on Thursday, January 15, they will learn about more than intricacies of the rhythm and sounds of jazz music.
“I don’t believe the average person knows much about jazz, and why it is so crucial to American culture in the last century,” says Broom, a practitioner faculty member in 萝莉社’s . “Jazz historically was a culmination of cultural phenomena, with the phenomenon of the Africans winding up here and having to reconcile with European tools, including music. Jazz is the music born of America and its circumstance, and was the popular music for a quarter of a century. As a musical style, it has informed and been a linchpin to most other popular music styles subsequent to it.”
Broom along with his band, the Bobby Broom Trio, will teach a master class that will also include a question and answer time with the artists about their careers and the particular experience of being a jazz musician. The master class, which is free and open to the public, is a tradition in music education, where artists are invited to perform and share insights behind their particular craft. Broom’s class is an opportunity for students, particularly from North Park’s undergraduate and , to interact with the performers and reflect on their own musical development.
It is one of three master classes on North Park’s campus this year; other sessions include Swedish pianist Niklas Sivelov on November 11, 2014, and German pianist Alexander Schimpf on March 5, 2015. "Master classes are a wonderful opportunity for North Park students to interact with a wide range of musical artists in the Chicago area, from symphony and opera performers, to jazz musicians, such as Bobby Broom," says , dean of the School of Music.
An internationally recognized recording artist and respected jazz educator, Broom acquired his knowledge and skill by working with many of the 20th century's leaders in the field of jazz, including Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Stanley Turrentine, and fellow guitarist Kenny Burrell, among others. He has performed worldwide in venues ranging from Carnegie Hall and Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh, Scotland, to the famed Village Vanguard and Birdland jazz clubs in New York City. Broom received his master’s degree in jazz pedagogy from Northwestern University and has taught and lectured worldwide, including at North Park since 2011.
“What attracted me to jazz music was how comprehensive it is,” says Broom, who just released his 11th studio album, My Shining Hour, which is currently number three on the JazzWeek charts. “Since I was very young, I was an avid radio listener. And when I heard jazz, it struck me as containing every other thing I heard in music prior to that. I was awash in musical possibility and the freedom with which this person playing was able to express themselves.”
Broom formed the Bobby Broom trio, which includes Dennis Carroll (left) and Makaya McCraven (right) back in 1991.
For Broom, jazz quickly became about more than music. “I later learned that jazz also has this rich and meaningful history in the African American experience, and that it is part of my heritage. I didn’t pick it because of that history, but maybe some strain spoke to me subconsciously before I knew anything about it.”
Broom has been teaching master classes since his early 20s, when he began teaching at the University of Hartford, not far from his New York City hometown. “One thing teaching has always done is to keep me on my toes,” Broom says. “I have to look at myself in different ways, and figure out how to impart knowledge to a variety of personalities. Everyone is different, including how he or she understands and processes information. I have to be a jazz musician and use my expertise of improvisation in order to find creative and effective ways to impart my knowledge.”
That sense of improvisation, and the ability to work with different personalities, is also vital to Broom’s work with the Bobby Broom Trio, which includes Dennis Carroll on bass and Makaya McCraven on drums. “Jazz at its best is a collective art form,” says Broom, who formed the trio in 1991 with Carroll as an original member. “There are rules to what we do—musical rules and rules of etiquette, a lot of times unspoken. How you grade your own personal performance should be integrated with how you grade your ability to accompany, or support, or blend with your fellow musician. It requires a lot of listening and split-second decision-making that is not really of a conscious nature. That’s the difficulty in jazz. There are a number of things we need to learn, but it’s sometimes difficult to talk about. The best way to learn is by performance.”
To learn more about Bobby Broom, the Bobby Broom Trio, and the cultural phenomenon of jazz music, join us on Thursday, January 15, at 2:30 pm in Anderson Chapel (rescheduled from earlier date).
Directions
Parking for this event will be available in the University lot at the corner of Foster and Kedzie avenues.
Fall Tour Unites Audiences with "Songs of Love and Loss"
North Park's University Choir and Chamber Singers perform on and off campus throughout the year.
University Choir and Chamber Singers to tour Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan October 17–19
CHICAGO (October 3, 2014) — Dr. Julia Davids has always believed in the power of music to bring people together. “Two of the most notable human experiences are love and loss,” she says. “For centuries composers have been compelled to express these intense emotions through song.” Given this core human condition, Davids says, these themes can easily unite us, and musical works help us find areas of commonality and resolution. “We might not all agree on many things, but we all know what it feels like to love and to lose someone we love.”
For Davids, 萝莉社’s , selecting “Songs of Love and Loss” as the theme for this fall’s University Choir and Chamber Singers tour wasn’t a difficult decision. “There is so much music that fits under the umbrella of ‘Love and Loss,’” she says. “For this tour program, we have endeavored to bring together some of the finest standard choral works as well as some newer additions to the canon. There’s a wide variety of music and emotions that the choirs get to display.”
The tour repertoire includes pieces that will appeal to attendees of all ages, from the high school students the University choirs will be working with, to the retirement community residents the choirs will perform for. The University Choir and Chamber Singers will tour Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan over Fall Break, performing at three churches, Covenant Village of the Great Lakes, and LaPorte High School.
“We always enjoy getting to share our music with other communities,” says Davids. “I try to include music that may be familiar as well as something that will stretch both the audience and the performers,” she says about tour programming. “For this tour, new music meets old, with lots of gorgeous singing and emotional understanding.”
More than 40 North Park students will participate in the tour, representing the University’s and music programs. “I'm very much looking forward to highlighting the wonderful student singers as well as cellist Francisco Malespin, who will play with a new song cycle called Snow Angel,” Davids says. Pianist Cristina Wilkinson Salamea will also join staff accompanist Myron Silberstein on selected pieces.
According to Davids, the five-movement Snow Angel “weaves together stories of love and light, rebirth and rejuvenation, through song and narration.” Written by emerging Canadian composer Sarah Quartel in 2003, the piece “highlights the strength and beauty that a child’s voice can bring to our often-troubled world,” she says.
The University Choir performs alongside Minnehaha Academy students at Bethlehem Covenant Church during last spring's tour to Minnesota.
“Sacred love—the love of God—is at the center of much great choral music,” Davids says. Whether written for church use (such as pieces by Bach and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina) or as concert pieces (like those by Ola Gjeilo and Hall Johnson), the program’s featured selections reflect the natural expression of love for God through singing. “We have also included two sorts of pieces that communicate love for each other.” Works by Brahms, Georges Bizet, and James Mulolland feature poetry about romantic love set to music, while songs by John Tavener and Daniel Gawthrop can ease the experience of losing a loved one.
To close the performances, the choirs will invite alumni and those connected to the University community to join in singing “Children of the Heavenly Father.”
The choirs will begin their tour in Indiana on October 17 with clinics for choral students at LaPorte High School. “Dr. Davids generally conducts workshops by having North Park and high school students sing together and work on vocal technique, her area of specialty,” says School of Music Director of Operations . “Mostly what happens is that Julia works her magic! Our students will then sing for LaPorte, and the LaPorte choir may sing for our students in a ‘concert exchange.’”
On October 19, the choirs will participate in two worship services at Forest Park Covenant Church in Muskegon, Mich., the home church for many 萝莉社 and students. Last August, the University Alumni Association hosted an event in Grand Rapids, Mich., at which Malespin gave a cello performance. He connected with alumni who attend Forest Park, providing a catalyst for retunrning to it as a destination on the fall tour. Representatives from the will be available at each tour performance to connect with alumni.
Performances are free and open to the public:
Friday, October 17, 7:00 pm, at Harbert Community Church, Sawyer, Mich.
Sunday, October 19, 9:30 and 11:15 am, at Forest Park Covenant Church, Muskegon, Mich.
Sunday, October 19, 6:00 pm, at Trinity Evangelical Covenant Church, Oak Lawn, Ill.
Dr. Klyne Snodgrass converses with a colleague in his Nyvall Hall office in 1983. Courtesy of Covenant Archives and Historical Library, 萝莉社, Chicago
Dr. Klyne Snodgrass to be honored with a Festschrift at Seminary's annual Symposium
Chicago (September 25, 2014) — For more than four decades, most students’ first class at has been New Testament I with Dr. Klyne Snodgrass.
“I view my task as helping people bridge from a college degree into the theological world,” says, a few weeks into his 41st and final year full-time at North Park. “We throw them into the deep end of the pool pretty quickly. I want them to be able to be at home in any theological discussion, to take them to a level most of them haven’t even thought about, and to introduce them to a quite technical world of New Testament studies. That’s my job; I’m a bridge person.”
Snodgrass has been building bridges throughout the academic world, the global church, and within the North Park community since his arrival in 1974. “I was very young and green,” Snodgrass says, having come to North Park after teaching for only a year at Georgetown College in Kentucky. “When I came here I knew I was moving to a different level and I had to work very hard. I was the age of most of the students. It was hard work, but a lot of fun.”
, dean of North Park Theological Seminary, is among the long list of church leaders to have studied with Snodgrass over the years. “When he came here, it was North Park College and Theological Seminary, and there weren’t a lot of PhDs across campus. He’s seen the huge trajectory of academic growth within the Seminary. He is, in some ways, the anchor to that.”
Festschrift
“There is one thing I learned a long time ago,” Snodgrass says. “When people ask the question, ‘What makes a good teacher?’, the answer is good students. If you have good students, you cannot fail.”
One of Snodgrass’s students, who credits him for “the confidence to go on for a doctorate,” is Dr. Rebekah Eklund, assistant professor of theology at Loyola University Maryland. Eklund, along with , senior professor of theological studies at North Park, are the co-editors of a Festschrift—a collection of scholarly essays in honor of a long and distinguished career—written in honor of Snodgrass.
Dr. John E. Phelan Jr., right, surprised Dr. Klyne Snodgrass during last Spring’s Seminary Commencement with the announcement of the forthcoming Festschrift, presenting him with a framed cover of the book. The complete book will be presented to Snodgrass at this year's Symposium on the Theological Interpretation of Scripture.
Snodgrass’s career includes his widely regarded , a pillar in the study of the parables of Jesus. The Festschrift, titled Doing Theology for the Church, is divided into five sections organized around Snodgrass’s major research interests: Gospels and parables; Paul; inner-biblical interpretation; women and ministry; and identity. “The contributors are colleagues and former students,” Eklund adds. “Klyne is one of those rare scholars who is equally admired among serious New Testament scholars and pastors. He has been able to build a bridge between those two worlds. “
The collection will be given to Snodgrass at this year’s , September 25–27 at North Park Theological Seminary. Snodgrass has coordinated the Symposium for years, and plans to continue to do so after his retirement. This year’s Symposium, “The Human Encounter with God,” discusses among other things “what happens when a person realizes that he or she has encountered God,” Snodgrass says.
“The Symposium is an attempt to get academics that are committed to the church to do theology for the church from Scripture,” Snodgrass says. “We try to get academics from various church traditions, including Greek Orthodox, Pentecostal, mainline, evangelical, Roman Catholic, and others. As long as they’re committed to Scripture and the church, they’re our kind of people. We’ve had some knock-down drag-outs, people in heated debates with each other, and sometimes amusingly so. But this is important work.”
Covenant connection
Snodgrass has always felt at home among different traditions, especially in his relationship with the . He is an ordained minister in the Southern Baptist Convention, but he and his wife Phyllis attend a Covenant church, and he adds, “On my resume, where it says ‘denomination,’ I put ‘Southern Baptist and Covenant.’”
Not only has Snodgrass helped mold multiple generations of Covenant pastors at North Park, he has also been entrusted by the Evangelical Covenant Church to help shape many of the denomination’s positions on theological issues.
“He is one of the most trusted voices and leaders in the denomination, and that’s not an exaggeration,” says Dean Kersten. “He’s written for us on the role of women in ministry, on , and one of the most significant papers he wrote for the Church was a . It does more to explain our ethos and how we do faith and do church than maybe any other document.”
Who am I going to be?
Phelan, who himself has taught at North Park for nearly two decades, credits Snodgrass’s lasting influence on the Seminary. “Klyne has not only been a superb scholar and teacher, he has been a dear friend and mentor to hundreds of students and scores of faculty. He has had a hand in shaping so many of us that his influence will endure for decades to come.”
In addition to continuing to coordinate the Symposium, Snodgrass will teach as an adjunct professor at the Seminary beginning in Fall 2015. But other than that, the next steps for him and Phyllis are somewhat unclear. They may spend more time in the South near family, admitting he was never a real fan of the Chicago cold. “I will keep doing the kinds of things I do: writing and teaching,” Snodgrass says. “I’m a teacher. It’s who I am. But nobody tells you how to do this retirement thing. So you’ve got to figure out how God is leading you at this point in your life. You’ve got to ask again, ‘Who am I going to be?’”
This year’s Symposium will be livestreamed in its entirety at beginning on Thursday, September 25, at 7:00 pm. The Festschrift in honor of Dr. Snodgrass will be available for purchase in November.
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